Christian Thought Life

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome everyone. Thank you for tuning in, The Bread of Life with JJ Yes, today's topic sermon or subjects today, and paraphrase today, what we're going to be discussing is the Christian thought life. And I'm going to ask ask these questions. What are you doing that brings you closer to the things of God? And how are you thinking when it comes to your daily life? What could you do differently? And what kind of thoughts could you think better of or more positive, I should say, in your daily life. It's very important. We're talking about the Christian thought life today, everyone. I'm going to paraphrase some sermons, but I'm going to also discuss the meaning behind things. We're going to take communion, pray. And then if there's any outreach or anything you need in prayer, we'll go ahead and give you that email, which is a breadoflife with JJ at gmail.com, the breadoflife with JJ at gmail.com. And we'll definitely get back to you here. We'll hear from you from the studio. But that's a a question and thought process in my life that always ponder, right? Our our thought life as a Christian, what do you consider? How do you live? What do you think about on a day-to-day basis? Because it says like this if you reap a or sow, right? If you sow a thought, you reap an action. Then you sow an action, then you reap a habit. And then when you reap or sow a habit, then you reap a behavior. A behavior, a pattern. In life. So something you gotta think about. Because that that's what guides us. That's what guides us through our daily walk in this life that we live on earth here. A beautiful life. Ups and downs, either way. I like to also start off something new today. I want to do different language, because I know we talk about the languages, especially back then back then in the Bible. Because if you don't know the history of this Bible, our wonderful book of the words that edify and help us become better people, that had gives us instructions and corrections that are from the Word of God. It was written and scrolls were found with the languages, there were only three that existed at that time, and that was Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew. So I'm gonna read you something in Greek, a couple things here, which I find interesting, and their names. So similar to Latin, but yeah, it's a derivative of that. So one would be Eia Re, which is come on. The other word would be paracalo, which is please very interesting people. They are Greek. Never been there before. I I'm sure my wife would like to go there. We've had like a picture that she formatted and her or framed with one of our pictures that we had in the background, and it was like a place on the beach. Beautiful ocean, uh waters like Greece. One day, huh? But what I have today is even more enlightening and I love to discuss. Before we get started, I'm gonna bow our heads and please, who those are listening, bow your heads with me and pray and have your heart open and receptive to God's word today. So, Lord, thank you so much for your word and for those listening, tuning in to this podcast. I'm so grateful for it. So grateful for everything that's taking place here. So I pray, Lord, that you use me as a vessel to speak your word, your bread, to give to those that hunger and the living water, if they thirst, because they will never thirst anymore, as you said in your word. And you are the true bread of life, and according to the book of John, you are who you say you are. So I thank you for this moment in time. I give you honor and praise, and we give you glory for this day. It's in your name. Your name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Again, we're again, we were discussing, and what we're going to discuss is the topic of the Christian thought life. But there's also examples of how it begins, too, with humility. It's some things, right? Because I know it with me, when I'm humble, I must be receiving. When I'm at a little low of my life where I need to learn and be quiet, and my spirit is receptive and at peace, right? And I'm learning what humility means, then I can slow down my thinking and I can have a better perspective of life, a thought pattern. Humility means responding to God with gratitude and living in light of his greatness, right? John 13, 5 through 17. And these are scriptures that you can read when I when I read these, because I don't want reading this scripture from the Bible verbatim. But those that are listening, I want you to look up those scriptures so how it correlates with what I'm discussing that are the words of the day. Sometimes they'll be paraphrased, but that's what I would like to point out for you, please. So those that are listening. But again, from the book of John, chapter 13, verses 5 through 17. Sometimes we need a wake-up call that opens our eyes so we can see who we truly are. When Jesus started washing the disciples' feet, they must have felt uneasy, especially after their recent discussion about which of them was the greatest. Mark 9, 34 through 35. As we noted a couple of days ago, foot washing was the task of the lowest slave in the household. But there were probably no servants posted on the door of the Last Supper. Since Jesus and his disciples were eating in a borrowed room, all the disciples considered this job beneath them. So everyone's feet remained filthy until Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, humbled himself to serve those who should have served him. After three years of teaching and modeling humility to his disciples, Jesus drove the point home with a towel and a bowl. If you want to follow Jesus' example of servanthood, a good place to begin is with prayer, asking for help, to see any sinful attitudes hiding in our heart. Then we can respond with gratitude rather than shame. As he is living and as he's inviting us to grow, when we confess what he reveals and ask him to help us change, we'll discover that humility isn't about thinking less of ourselves. It's about thinking of ourselves less. In other words, it's about seeing who God is and living in light of his greatness rather than our own. That's not what we should be doing. That's not the goal. Yeah, think about that. What is your your goal in life? What things are hindering you? Again, thought life. Difficulties, overcoming obstacles, things in our life that we deal with a day-to-day basis. Understand that difficulty does not diminish God's power. Instead, he displays his power through it. That's been shown in my life many times. The book of Matthew 17, 14 through 21 says, Nothing is impossible for God. No obstacle confuses him or poses any kind of challenge. Though we know he is sovereign over all, we have trouble maintaining this perspective. Just like the disciples in today's passage, when difficulties arise, we all too often experience a shift in focus. That's one thing. During trials, we tend to take our eyes off the Lord and instead see only our problems. The longer we look at our circumstance, the larger it seems. As we dwell on it, thought and conversation, our mindset can become negative. And that's truly where worry sets in. And in Philippians, it tells me, you know, to be anxious for nothing. So I need to learn to not be anxious. I need to learn to pray. I need to learn if there, if I am a Christian and I call myself that, and I have a relationship, an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, with God, the Father. Like, this is my feelings and my emotions of what I'm going through. I need your help. You know, like I should be able to come to Him. Even in moments when I don't want to, when I feel like, man, I shouldn't know, I know how to do this, man. I'm a man. I'm educated. I know what's up. Like, why am why can't these things move forward? Well, there's times that the Lord's like, I need you to come talk to me and come to me. So humble yourself. And difficulties come our way. This is life. But our mindset, our thought life, we got to have better perspectives of not becoming negative and watching that, paying attention to that. Another step, another one that can you can help with this would be like a develop a you develop an incorrect assessment of resources. In times of trouble, we start taking inventory of our own strength and abilities, just like I mentioned. The truth is that we don't have what is needed for life's trials. Jesus himself told us that. That's John 16, 33. But God's capabilities are unlimited, his power is never-ending, and his wisdom is complete, which is such a relief. You got to believe that though, right? Some people don't believe that. And that's why we like, we say that, we believe it, we confess it, but then we continue to go and do things on our own strength, and we continue to do things in our own will. And it gets us in trouble sometimes or ends up stressing us out. Because it was never meant to be in the first place. We shouldn't have been doing that. We've got to seek the Lord's guidance and be still and wait for Him. View obstacles as barriers. The Lord can demonstrate his awesome power through our difficulties. If you read Corinthians 12, 7 through 10, you'll see that at such times we can grow in our faith and learn more about our Father. If we view hardships simply as troubles, then we can miss demonstrations of God's love, his power and wisdom. So the thing is, you need to understand is you need to start each day committed to a Christ-centered focus. Be dependent on his resources. You need to trust that he is in control. You need to trust that he's in control. And when you see that there are obstacles and distractions or situations in your way, think of them as opportunities, the barriers, the things that come your direction. Have a better perspective instead of a negative one and attitude. The obstacles, think of them as opportunities, barriers. So when barriers kind of, you know, they obstruct our path, God provides a way over around them and to strengthen, to overcome them. You read Psalm 27, 11 through 14, it's learning to see obstacles as opportunities. And sometimes that does take time. When we're facing barriers, our natural response is frustration or fear. But recalling God's faithfulness can lead us to a truer perspective. Just like I'm saying, having an attitude of gratitude and remembering the good things that he has done. It helps us remember God is at work. He's actively moving his plan forward, even when we can't see it. The Lord will either provide a way around an obstacle or show us how to fit into his larger purpose. This doesn't mean every difficulty is a part of some divine test, but it does mean God is present and he's working. God equips and guides us. His indwelling Holy Spirit communicates what we need to know. John 16, 13. You read that. Whether we receive his direction in stage or all at once, he asks us to trust him rather than human wisdom. God invites our partnership and participation. It takes courage to move forward despite barriers. I know it does for me. I know at times I want to not do or do anything. Woe was me. Oh, attitude. I'm I'm oh I have I'm just so down and trodden. Like what? Come on. It's okay to visit that emotion, but you must move forward and be patient to it. And patience is necessary as we wait for him to work and reveal his plan. And faith that enables us to trust God with the outcome. So we have to think about that. It faith enables us. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, enabling us to trust that God will have an outcome. There will be something great because He is good. We must wait on that and be patient. Obstacles don't disappear because we trust the Lord, but our perspective shifts. When we remember these truths, we can face barriers with confidence that God is already at work in ways we may not see yet. That is such a truth as I just spoke that to you and read that to you. God is at work. God is at work. You must believe that. And that's the thing about faith. Like I was saying before, faith. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I don't, I hope for things in life to be. But I got to make sure my hope and my desires need to be more for the Lord and hit the purposes that he has for my life and not my pockets, not my desires, my pleasures, my wishes, my wants, right? Like I know there's things that I want and need in life. And I'm gonna tell you, he's created that for me. He's created everything different for each one of us. And I know that. But the problem becomes the thought process that we have. As I said, the the thought life of a Christian or even a person, period. But especially a Christian, because when you become a Christian, yeah, you're held to a different standard. When you said that you confess this and you will stand up for it, it's almost like being in the military. You definitely just enlisted into God's army. Like you literally raise your hand and say, I do solemnly swear to defend, right? So you're defending the constitution of God, Jesus Christ, the Bible. That is what you're doing. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic, right? You're willing to give your life for that to contend and defend the faith. Thought processes. Our mind needs to get right. If we are Christians, again, we have we have standards, and we have to live by those. And there are terms and conditions. Like I said, everything in life, if you look at it, there are laws, there's rules, there's things that the Lord has shown us. Even if you read Romans 13, Romans 14, it'll explain to you the Spirit will explain to you laws and rules that the Lord has designed and set up. These are things that you must pay attention to. These are the things that you must say, okay, I need to just get in line and not fight against it. That's the problem we have today. 2 Timothy 3. There is rebellion happening in our world. There is a spirit that is hanging, the principality. And that's what you see through races. And unfortunately, you see it through the beautiful African-American race, but you see it through all walks of life, through all nations. There is a spirit heavily on people. And we must understand what our purpose and what it plays and where that thing begins almost. Like, where does that process begin to grow and manifest? Where does that start to cultivate? When we have to think about that, it's in our thought process. That's where things come in. Whatever comes in a man's mind, right, or his heart, right? It comes out. It's like whatever comes in, it comes out. We have to be careful and understand what comes in. Your mind is the control tower of our of life. So whatever happens in our life starts right in your mind. All of our decisions are there. And the truth is, whatever we are today is a result of what we've been thinking about all those years. The Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So if you don't like what's going on around you, maybe you should ask yourself the question, what am I thinking about? What do I think about myself? What do I think about other people? Because what we think about is really what controls us. So for example, a relationship to God, have relationship to each other, you have a sense of direction in life. Whatever we accomplish, we have failures in life. All of that is a result of the way we think. And oftentimes we forget that that is the control tower. That everything else is a result of how we think. As we can control everybody else and control all of our circumstances, right? No. But because of right thinking, because we think in a certain way. But what we have to ask ourselves is this that what is that that determines what I think? Is it the word of God or is it something else? I read something else that I watch, and then I think about how many people sit down and open their mind to the social media scroll. And I know I have to watch myself and not be guilty of that, but watching the news or whatever it might be and not realizing that they're sitting there being programmed. You say, well, what does that include preaching too? But yeah, I want you to listen to me though, because I want you to be programmed to think the way God thinks. So listening to a good podcast, a message, a preaching, a something that biblical truth is great programming, programmed to understand the word of God, programmed in such a way that you live in a fashion that's pleasing and honorable to God, and that there are the best things that God has for your life because of that, and you'll be able to experience that. But on the other hand, you're watching programs full of sensuality, crime, murder, horror, right? Lust, these movies and so forth, in certain parts of your life, and certain parts of your life, right? And so we want to talk about this message about controlling our thoughts, because this controls everything. That's where our thoughts are. If you turn your Bible to the Colossians 3 and read the first eight verses, and then answer the question, how do we control our thoughts? Which determines our life? And Paul begins in the particular chapter, and it says, for example, therefore, that it is based on what he's been talking about. If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. So when you can see the members of your earthy body as dead to immorality, you're dead to impurity and passions, evil desires, and greed, which amounts to idultery. But it's because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them you also walked once when you were living in them, but now you also put them aside.

unknown 20:43

Right?

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Because you're walking with the Lord. You must put aside anger, wrath, malice, abuse of speech. Things from your mouth that way. The Bible says you doubt your old way of life, and you rose to walk in this life, in a new life. That is what the baptism pictures. You doubt your way of life. Your very Christ Jesus ridden to walk in a newness of life. And he says, therefore, keep seeking. This is a new life. Keep seeking the things above, spiritual things. That doesn't mean that you forget everything that is in this life. We have responsibilities and joys and whatever it may be. But keep seeking those things above where Christ is seated. The good and godly and helpful. You've died, and your life is hidden with Christ and God. That is, you doubt your own way of life. When you said, I'm trusting Jesus as my Savior, you didn't say, Well, I just want to add Jesus to my present life and keep going. Uh, this is what people do when they're living in areas of idolatry and have all kinds of idols in their house, and unless they fully understand what they do when they explain Jesus to them, they say, Oh, yeah, yeah. I got a God for that and God for this. But that's not what it is, and that's not how it should be. Therefore, it says, Consider the members of your earthy body as dead to elicit sex to moral impurity, all sorts of passions that is that drives within you. It causes you to do things that are not right. And he says, evil desires, greed, which is amounts to which amounts to idolatry. So in those days, which you'll find in Scripture, oftentimes the Bible talks about immorality. He also talks about greed because he puts them together in the days where sensuality were all sort of mixed up together. Back in the day, they had their gods and prostitutes in the temples. And it was a mixture. So it says, because of these things, the breath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them which this once you once walk. Right? And that's passed away when you're you're living in something different now. But you were living in them then. That is the ways of your old lifestyle. But now you must put all that aside. You must put aside the anger, the wrath, the malice, slamming speech, abusive speech. You must change. It's trying to put away those things that don't fit in your new life in Christ. I'm going to go back and show you something about the passage in a few moments, but I'm listening. I'm going to give you three ideas, three points to this message. Okay, so but the last pathway of controlling our thoughts begins with understanding of our relationship with Jesus Christ. If you don't understand that, you'll never understand this idea of controlling your thoughts. That's where it all begins. Because he says, Here we were raised with Christ Jesus. And that's referring to our salvation. There was a change that took place when we were saved. And as a result of that, God intended about the change of our mind to change because the mind that controls everything else in your life, it controls things. You say, Well, what about the other parts of my life? We'll respond the way we think. And if so, we think we don't have one response. We think wrong way, we're going to have that. My other way of a mistake, uh they think they think right, but they do things ungodly, right? Uh they don't think godly. Or some don't think they're worth anything. And people are very beautiful and very ugly, right? But there is very beautiful people, and they think that they're ugly and they have wrong thinking about themselves, or other people are very skinny and they think they're fat. And some refuse to eat. They think that they look in the mirror and they don't see what's reality. And so your mind controls. People start in life a defeated way of thinking because of the influences possibly of their parents or their grandparents. Sometimes people in their life have told them that they'll never amount to anything. Like, what's wrong with them? What's wrong with you? All these type of things and yelling and accusations that they received in life, right? As a result, their guilt, their life, what they've heard has been written in their minds, impressed in their thinking. So if my mama said it, my daddy said it, and my grandmother said it, well, it must be true. And therefore, oftentimes people are ruined as a result of what they've been taught, or what they have been, what was been taught in their mind or placed in their mind. Want to come to a second point now, which is the challenge to controlling our thoughts, because once you say in your environment or you stay there, well, your environment's going to remain the same if it's that way, or it could even get worse. But where to live and be godly to ungodly society that we are in right now, it's just an ungodly environment, and some people's environments are worse than others. I can think of people and groups and families, right? Families that are Christian, families that use that think about one person saved in the family and they're Christian, but the other family members use vow language. They don't read the Bible, they drink out of control, they drink, right? The chorale, the circumstances they live in, is just unbearable. And so it's difficult for certain ones, especially nearly Christians, people that have given their life to Christ, especially if they were trained or if they've been taught. Oftentimes people go to church year after year, and nobody tells them or explains to them or helps them understand that this way you think, and the way you think, if certain things are true, or certain things may not be. But the goal and the challenge is to think godly. Think godly is absolutely essential, absolutely essential. It's vital for the Christian. 2 Corinthians 4 and uh uh fourth verse, it says speaking of the gospel, and he says in verse 3, though, even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perish, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbeliever, so that they may not see the light of the gospel of glory of Christ, who is the image of God. So he understands this. Satan has blinded the minds of the unbeliever. They can't they won't, they they want to have no desire to see the truth. That's bottom line in this life. We as Christians gotta make sure we don't do that either. Because a lot of us, a lot of people have been falling on the wayside doing that. And understand he blinds the minds of the unbeliever and he deceives the believer. This is why people who profess to see about what they hear or how Satan works, he doesn't work on your toe or your leg or somewhere else, he works on your mind. It's the battlefield in every person's life. Whatever goes on right in your mind is going to affect every single aspect of your life. And that's why it's important. That's why Paul was talking about that. What happens is Satan's trying to work in your mind. And if you allow him, and if you do, he'll enable you to recall things that happened years and years ago. Feeling that we have the power to recall it, but it's a mind filled with things that are unpleasant, ungodly. Blinded, so forth, suffering results. So the mind is very important. It's very important. The devil tries to use that. So he will try to get in there as his strategy. So unless you fill it with truth, the truth of the word of God, the true word. And I'm not just talking about reading the Bible once in a while. I'm I'm thinking about this. It's it's what is a reprobate mind? I want you to understand this, okay? You must like again, I'm saying people think just reading the Bible once and a while is okay. It can't be a once-in-a-while thing. And I I don't want a reprobate mind as I read through this, and and it says this reprobate mind. It's a particular sinner in their life, and decided what they want and what they're going to do. And I'm gonna give myself to that no matter what someone else says or what anyone else thinks or likes. They can say anything they want to say. That's what I want to do, and that's what I'm going to do. And it's scripture teaches us specifically that an act of disobedience to God, when you give yourself to a word, a particular sin, and say, That's what I'm going to do, that's how I'm going to live. Now you have a reprobate mind. It starts right in your mind. Only you can decide that about yourself. It makes a difference what you think and how you think each and every day of your life. Because things will be imprinted in your mind. Some things may take time to forget, weeks to forget, some things won't. Some things will still remember, some things will stay in your mind. This is why things crop up in your thinking that you haven't thought about in years and years and years. So the mind is a strange thing, but whatever you put in there, it will stay, right? So I want to make sure in my life I want to put things that Christ would want me to think and have in my mind. I have to change things in my my daily habits of life. If everything starts in my mind, I have to change how I view things. So, for example, right, and people say they can't do it. Well, I believe you can do it because if you are a Christian and you could profess your your heart and your soul to Christ, that tells me then that you have the power of God, that means that he can and he will do it. And that means we we have to let that go. We have to trust that process. And sometimes we want it done right away, and it's not going to happen. Jesus said he'd be here for us and always send a helper. That helper is with us, helping us and reminding us. It's about rejecting the things that you think about yourself or what others have taught you or said about you. It's about receiving and believing and understanding what God said about you. That you're not formed or you're not what your worth is not your circumstances, right? Your the obstacles, the thing I talked about earlier, the barriers, those don't define who you are. They have may done some things to your mind or build some type of areas in your character to make you think a certain way, but the way that God sees you, it's a lot different than how you may see yourself or what others may have said about yourself. You are responsible to understand the Spirit of God. You are responsible to saying no, which is self-control. If certain music I'm listening to causes me to do same things or think things that I shouldn't be thinking, and I again I have to ask myself this question would the Lord approve of this? What would God think? If God was sitting right here, or in my vehicle, or in my room, would he approve of what I'm watching? Would he like it? Is that biblical sound? If whatever I'm listening to, would the Lord approve of those words that I'm listening to? Is that heaven-bound type music? Or am I really like in a process of saying, I'm gonna make walk this life seriously? It's discipline. I'm telling you, there were times in people's lives where they would chase whatever they needed to get whatever they needed, right? Like, I need to have this ticket to go see this concert, or I need to have this dress, I need to have this and that, whatever. And they would bust, they would do all they could to get what they wanted. Our mind and attitude needs to be the same way. We need to chase this heaven-bound thing that I've been hearing about. And I hope I'm right. And and hey, if I'm wrong, hey, guess what? I I did my best to live a great life, right? But if I'm right, ooh we shame to those that are wrong, man. Because I'm telling you, what if there is a heaven? What if there is these things that we talk about, that we heard about, that people talk about, that they visited? What we read through the text and scripture, though the the instructions that we need to have before we leave this earth. That is what it is. And we have to bow down to that. We have to really make a choice in this life and say, I'm not going to watch that movie. I'm not going to listen to that song. I'm not going to stare at that person or that woman or that man, whatever that may be, for this period of time where lust will give in and your thoughts run rampant. And then from there, actions sometimes do take place. They do, don't they? Especially if you're weakened and if you're not solidly grounded in foundations of Christ. We have to be aware of and cognizant, but also intentional of putting the armor of God upon us. We have to be aware of that when we wake up every morning, our first thing should be our knees getting the ground and saying, Thank you, Lord, for today. What can I do for you today? What's thy will? And pray for my family and people and what I need to do today. Having that intimate relationship, truth, quietness, stillness. And let him speaking to you. That's humility, as we talked about before. That's allowing him to get your mind going that day, to have the thoughts being reminded. And then throughout the day, whatever you need to do, whether you need to get an app to remind you throughout the day, hey, God loves you. There's apps out there that you can but download. That's what I mean. The Lord is everywhere if you choose to follow him and see him. And if you need help, he's there. I'm there for you. Look at things that I uh that are open for you. I will give, I will be here, I will help you. Don't let the world help you. The world has nothing to offer you. The world is always changing. And the Bible does say what is it for a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul? Why would I want to gain all these things in life? And yet my soul is gone to a place that does not belong. Only for the devil and his angels. It's not for God's people. But so many people are so quick to do that because the thinking process is right. A man gets angry, he has bad thinking, he's his jealous thinking, rage thinking, the things I talked about earlier in the Bible and scripture, putting those things away of rage and malice. But a man comes in full of rage and malice, uh, full of alcohol that is just spiking up his anger. And therefore he decides to react and someone cuts him off the road, or when someone says something they shouldn't at home, or wherever it may be, he decides to respond with violence. The thinking, it starts there. Instead of seeing things in a perspective that's different, and maybe not drinking that drink, maybe praying, doing something different. We must program ourselves. Those that are Christian, those that want to be Christians, those that are listening to me, those that are in the process and the building of that, the drinking milk, the ready to eat meat in these types of areas of spiritual growth and awareness with the Lord Jesus. Yes, I understand you. It starts somewhere. But it is in your mind, and whatever you feed your mind, you're going to sow that. Whatever you, whatever man sows, they reap, right? If I sow the thoughts, I'm going to reap a behavior or action. That's just part of it. That action becomes a habit, that habit becomes a behavior that's ingrained. Your brain is made of plasticity in a sense where it can change. It's been proven. Neuroscience has shown that. It's biblical. Romans. Romans 8, Romans 12. Read the books, the Bible that the Lord has said. Hey, renew your mind. And Colossians, hey, think on these things. Do this instead. It is a daily grind in process. So if I'm willing to daily grind at work, at the gym, training, fighting, whatever that may be, I better make sure I'm daily grinding in this avenue of spiritual fitness. I need it. We all need spiritual awakening and spiritual fitness. We have to exercise this man, this woman, woman, that those listening are women. Hey, we've got to exercise that muscle, that spiritual group of muscles that need to grow in the things of God, because this is why we're here. We're not here just to make money. We're not here just to live life and be happy and merry. What's the purpose of life then? Just to do that, to toil, to work hard, to enjoy what I've worked for, and then die. There's a lot more to life than that. I know Solomon talked about that. I don't want, I life, things are meaningless at times that we chase. So the mind needs to think what's more important? Is it the meaningless things that don't matter when I leave this earth, or is it the things that are eternal and spiritual? That is the choice. Free will, that is what we must do. To walk this walk, to overcome these obstacles and delusions and barriers that we see throughout the day through people, through circumstances, work, media, news, family. You name it, man. This life is life. Thank God for it, though. We all didn't ask to be born at this age and this time, right? But we are. We're here. We are who we are. By choices, by circumstances, other people's choices, consequences. Oh, you name it. It's all here. Now let's make the best out of it. Let's do the things that God called us to do. And let's start right here with our mind. Let's program ourselves daily. Put God first because he loves you. So before I go, we're gonna have to do communion now. That's another special thing we have to do. And it's an important thing. I want you, everyone, to understand this because this is the Last Supper that Jesus had with his people, his disciples, those that he loved, those that he chose to spend time with, three years of ministry with. But he's always been there, right? Because he's been in heaven there, watching. But he came down to be with them and to show God, like how awesome an example to come down from the power and realm of heaven to be here on earth to experience what man experiences through emotion and pain and turmoil, and emotions of love, heartache, sadness, but righteousness and joy and godliness, like so many things, so many emotions we go through. Jesus Christ said that. If there's anything that you have, though, against your brother, sister, anyone, leave it at there. Leave it at the altar, leave it done, be done with it. Move on, forgive. Walk as I walk, which is his walk is love. And if you understand the true definition of love, which I've had my other podcast, as you can listen to the other episode. But let me tell you the fruits of the spirit that love is agape, phaleo in Greek. But I'm telling you, that love is so unconditional. It's so graceful and so amazing. Because there's been moments in my life where I've been ugly and been an ugly. And I'm telling you, his love pulled me out of that. And he never stopped. Always there. So those that are listening, those that know others that may be listening, or those that need this, hey, tell them, tell them they are loved. There's no need to push that hand away. He's not against you, he's for you. No matter what man says, no matter what religion tries to dictate, what traditions and rules. Understand his love is deep. His love is different than what you think. When we go through things, he does that for a reason because we call he calls us his children. That means that who what father does not discipline their child if he does not love them? That is what the Lord does to us, those that he calls his. And there's choices that people make. I understand that. And he allows them to make those choices. And he's sitting there right there as a good father would be, waiting for you to come back home. His love is so deep. Dying for us so that we can be made right. Because that's what the law dictates. That's how it's been set up. So he did that as an example. Leader, servant, awesome. And we must do the same. So when we lay down our life, that means I need to lay down my thinking. That means if I have something that comes in my mind, as the Bible says, hey, snatch it up, capture it, destroy it. Snatch up the imaginations that come up in your mind. Destroy them. I have to, I need to be aware of that. I don't need to keep you reminded of it and act them out. I need to replace them with the things of truth, the things of goodness, the things that I want my future, the things I want to have in my life or my family, the things that are good, that bring joy. That is where we need to be and reprogram ourselves. Gotta make decisions and sacrifices. I can't watch that show no more, man. It's caused me to have anxiety or be negative. Okay, then don't watch it. Find another show. Or instead of that show that you'd watch for 30 minutes to an hour, go ahead and do some exercises. Replace it with that instead. There's ways of doing things, human beings. We are human beings. Listen, people, beautiful people. There's ways of doing things. We just make excuses. We don't want to do it. And I understand there's some people that maybe can't. I respect that. Find other ways, though. Don't think you can. All things are possible. And I say that through Christ because let me tell you, all things are possible. You don't have ideas or things that come. He brings an idea right there. Oh man, I didn't think about that. Correct. You know, all things are possible. Trust in the process. Know that God loves you. Know that we're going to take this communion because as a result of that. Forgive those that you have something against, any offense. Think about Christ. Think about his love and how. You need to share that love to others and what it means, what communion means. So if you have your Bibles, you turn to 1 Corinthians 11. And we're going to start at verse 26. And this is Paul addressing the church at Corinth and those in the congregation. He's talking about the cup and the bread and what it symbolizes and it means. And he says, For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So starting here in verse 23, we'll start there instead. It says, For I receive from the Lord what I also pass on to you, which is Paul talking. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given things, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So whenever we come together, so think I'm gonna pause right there. So when you think about when we come together, we're doing this in remembrance of him. So what does that mean? That hey man, I did he died an ugly death. Whether you guys want to believe it or not, but it's historically documented, what the Romans did back in the day in crucifixion. So listen, that's how he died then. Historically written. Hey, they beat him to a point where he was unrecognizable, and they didn't even know that he was a woman or man. So that tells me the cat of nine tails that they had that they whipped him with, it destroyed his genitals as well. So not only did it destroy his face, and they put the crown of thorns on him as well to scratch scar his face as bad, they beat him, ripped his beard out, mocked him, made him a spectacle, but whipped him with those different instruments, causing his back to be open, ribs to be exposed, genitals ripped off, stomach almost open completely, face unrecognizable. And to see his mom, whether Virgin Mary, which she is, didn't matter if she's that's her son. He he came out of her as a virgin to see that happen to her beautiful boy. Devastating. But he's innocent. And he did that for you and me, so that we can be with him in heaven. Because that's the law. That's what sin deserves. So in remembrance of him, that's taken his bread. And thank you, thank you, Lord, for going through a horrible death. Walking with a 315-pound cross, eight hundred yards, bleeding, to be nailed to it with spikes. And to sit there and suffocate slowly and die for six hours with my bleeding out. So it also says this in the same manner after the supper, he took the cup of saying, This cup is a new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. I'm confessing that, I'm proclaiming that. That that's what happened, and it did. His blood. His blood is precious, and our blood is precious to him. And that's that was spilled for us. But the great news is no Buddha, no Muhammad, no Joseph Smith, no anyone. Tao, Confucia resurrected. Philip Anthony Mitchell said that. Other people have said that, which is true. We know that for a fact. They did not resurrect and rise again on the third day. And it's been historically documented that he has. And people saw him. There's no mistake about it. Praise God for the goodness, the truth. And if you want to know truth, ask the Lord for it. Clear your mind. And repentance too, when he means renew your mind. And he says, have a clean mind. If you read Psalm 51, because I asked that prayer, Lord, restore me a steadfast spirit. Renew, like clean my mind. I need you to renew my mind. Make my sins far as like remove them. East is further west. Like remove it. Make me white as snow. Like I don't want to have that. Have issues thinking a certain way. Help me. And be genuine about it. Okay, that's real. And he will. Right? So renew your mind. Think about that. Do those things. Ask the Lord. He loves you. But get things right, do things in the right manner and be genuine about your ways. God doesn't like fools. He doesn't take heart to that. He knows your heart. So do that. And again, if you need prayer, anything to reach out to questions you may have, theological questions, prayer, well, please don't hesitate to reach out to the bread of life with JJ at gmail.com, the bread of life with JJ at gmail.com. And even questions, if there's women out there too that you want to reach out to, my wife, my lovely wife Maria, she'll definitely reach back out to you as well. And we will come together in unison, pray, pray over the circumstance together, husband and wife. I don't want to ever do things separately. I don't ever want to do things where it's man and woman. I want those listening, and anytime you do things, you meet together, man, man, like witnesses, woman, you know, always bring a witness, always have someone there accountable, but my wife is the accountable one for me. So if there's ever a woman that reaches out or anyone that wants uh has questions, best believe my wife will respond, and you know, and I will help process that, speak through that as well with my insight to help and pray. Okay. So again, thank you for listening. I'm so glad you're with us. I know that I've been gone for you know a few weeks. You I've had had a I've had a little break that I need to take at times. I need to handle things at home and and deal things with what I need to with personal lives and and business. So, but my podcast is my my first my heart too. I love it. And I love being able to speak to those listening and the insights, the paraphrase of the things that mean a lot to me in my life that I've listened to and I know about. I want to share that with you. And that's what I do. I collect, gather all things that my personal experiences, life, my knowledge, to also the knowledge that God has given me through other pastors, through sermons, through books, readings, you name it. And I share that with you as a conglomeration. I put it together and I and I present that to you. And I want those that are listening to grow in the things of God because he loves you and he has great plans for you, wherever they may be. They're so different. So embrace the difference in the gifts of who you are, embrace how the Lord has made you and how he has formed you. Because it says in the Bible that he knew you before the foundations of the earth, that he called you by name, knitted you in your mother's womb. And he knows every hair on your body and on your head, even if they're bald like me, he knows all the hairs that I have. I don't even know that. I just know I'm bald. But I like it. Anyhow, until next time, we meet again to the next episode where we'll talk about strategies and how we see the enemy coming before we, you know, we need to respond and be preemptive in the offense, not so much the defense so much. God loves you. Take this one day at a time. God bless. Thank you.